Our Work

With rigorous economic research and practical policy solutions, we focus on the issues and institutions that are critical to global development. Explore our core themes and topics to learn more about our work.

Search By

Commentary & Analysis

In timely and incisive analysis, our experts parse the latest development news and devise practical solutions to new and emerging challenges. Our events convene the top thinkers and doers in global development.

Multimedia

From the Bretton Woods Committee: "On October 10, 2018, the Bretton Woods Committee held its annual International Council meeting in Bali, Indonesia alongside the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Annual Meetings. An esteemed group of global leaders joined approximately 75 Committee members and friends in a roundtable discussion. This year’s conversation – Modernizing Multilateralism - Leadership for the Next Generation – examined the current and future forces shaping the global economy and discussed ways the multilateral system and institutions can be modernized to meet the demands of the next generation."

Sarah Bermeo, political economist and author of Targeted Development: Industrialized Country Strategy in a Globalizing World, on how rich countries’ motivations for development have evolved, what they mean for developing countries, and where we are now.

Former president of Malawi Joyce Banda on how leaders are made, the challenges she faced as Malawi's first women president, and how the development community can help African girls reach their full potential.

Louise Arbour, Special Representative for International Migration at the United Nations, on why we need to do better on migration, how international cooperation enhances national sovereignty, and what’s at stake in the ongoing negotiations for the Global Compact for Migration.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia and Africa’s first elected female president, on the impact of private sector investment, the urgency of action on climate change, and the resilience of developing countries.

King's College London lecturer Alice Evans on how social change happens, the consequences of male bias for developing countries, and the larger takeaways of the "#sausagefest" incident for development experts.

Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canadian Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, on Canada's new feminist international assistance policy, the need for psychosocial support for refugees, and the links between family planning and development.

Last week the World Bank's Chief Economist (now former), Paul Romer, told the Wall Street Journal the Bank had manipulated its own competitiveness rankings to undermine Chile's socialist government, and hinted Chile might not be alone—then he retracted the claim. Romer's conspiracy theories probably aren't credible, but neither are the Doing Business numbers.

Sometime around 2045, Nigeria’s population will pass the United States in size. Nigeria isalready the world’s most under-powered country in the world relative to its income—nearly 80 percent below global trends. As large as the power gap is today, what will Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity look like in 30 years?

DFID's new chief economist Rachel Glennerster on her goals for the organization, how to help girls stay in school, and why even low price barriers can pose big problems for takeup of health interventions.

What should be the priorities of the G20 debate now that Argentina assumed the presidency? CNN delves into this question, featuring an interview with CGD Senior Fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez (in Spanish).

What can we say about the relative size and composition of health commodity markets across different countries? We took a stab at piecing together publicly available data sources to find an initial answer for low- and middle-income countries as part of the background work to inform the CGD Working Group on the Future of Global Health Procurement.

What's going to happen in the world of development in 2018? Will we finally understand how to deal equitably with refugees and migrants? Or how technological progress can work for developing countries? Or what the impact of year two of the Trump Administration will be? Today’s podcast, our final episode of 2017, raises these questions and many more as a multitude of CGD scholars share their insights and hopes for the year ahead.